Page 28 of The Heir Affair (Claimed by a Greek #1)
Two weeks later
Poppy flashed a quick grin into the foggy bathroom mirror at the muffled rap on her bedroom door.
Well, that was new. Xander Caras bothering to knock. Not that he had much cause to knock on her door, as she was usually in his room. Grabbing a towel, she wrapped it around her freshly showered body and rushed through the suite to open the door.
Her smile faltered when she saw the villa’s housekeeper standing on the other side with her arms full of shimmering silk.
‘Oh, hello, Elena. Hi…’ she said, feeling awkward and trying not to show it. Elena and the rest of the staff at the villa had been wonderful in the past fortnight, tending to her and Xander’s needs while also giving them the privacy they needed.
And, boy, had they made the most of it.
The last fourteen days had been wonderful in ways she never would have expected.
She was getting to know Xander better, even if he didn’t want to talk much about his past—she still hadn’t got any more information out of him about his childhood—but in every other way, their time together on Parádeisos had been a revelation.
The sex, of course, had been epic, and exhausting, in the most delicious way possible.
She’d become totally addicted to him. All he had to do was look at her now, the fierce awareness darkening his gaze, and her body quickened, preparing to take him inside her.
But more than that, each time he touched her, each time he brought her to another shattering climax, then held her afterwards, he made her feel precious, and cherished, and seen.
What they had together wasn’t just sex, she knew that for sure now.
They had strengthened the connection that had always been there, even on that day when she’d thought he was someone else.
Xander was a sexual being, and so was she. Their connection had been forged in the fire of their physical attraction—but that didn’t make it any less real.
And there was also his enchanting reaction to the pregnancy.
He spoke about the baby often and seemed fascinated by the child growing inside her.
To the extent that she suspected he had been disappointed he still hadn’t been able to feel it move the way she had.
She had been impossibly touched when he’d arranged for them to go to a top obstetrician in Rhodes two days before, to have a check-up and do an ultrasound.
As they’d sat in the suite together, and she’d watched his face flush with fierce emotion as the grainy image of their baby had formed on the doctor’s screen, it had been a seminal moment for her, too.
Because she had understood he wanted this child as much as she did.
She had been so happy, partly because she would never have expected him to be so invested, but mostly because she hadn’t realised how much his commitment to co-parenting their baby meant to her.
She hadn’t wanted to rely on his involvement.
In fact she had tried to keep her expectations in check.
But knowing she didn’t have to do that any more was exhilarating.
Maybe Xander didn’t talk much about the feelings growing between them, but she was sure now that would come too, she just had to give him time. She didn’t have to fear enjoying this first flush of love any more, because so much of what Xander did now convinced her he was falling for her too.
He locked himself away in his study most mornings, for a couple of hours, to catch up on his emails and all the other important business that running a shipping empire must entail.
But he was delegating a lot of work to his brother to spend time with her, which—given he was clearly a workaholic—meant a lot to her.
Each afternoon they devoted themselves to spending quality time together.
And while a lot of that quality time involved overdosing on the endorphin rush of good, hard, sweaty sex, whenever and wherever they could, they’d also found time to do other stuff too.
He’d taken her sailing, because of course he was a brilliant sailor.
They’d been snorkelling on the reef near Seirína’s Cove and explored the ruins of a fishing village on the far side of the island that had been abandoned centuries ago.
They had spent one memorable afternoon with him teaching her how to drive his motor launch, which she’d loved, the rush of speed almost as exhilarating as having his big body cradling hers so he could direct her hands on the wheel and encourage her to go faster than the wind.
Not quite as much fun had been the afternoon he’d had a personal stylist flown in from Paris with a ton of designer wear and insisted on buying her a whole new wardrobe.
She’d resisted at first, because expensive haute couture was so not her thing—seriously, who paid thousands of euros for a pair of high-heeled sandals?
But when he had explained she would need the necessary wardrobe to attend the functions and events he got invited to, she’d sucked up the familiar wave of panic and agreed to let him buy her a couple of outfits.
When he’d ignored that instruction and insisted on buying out the poor stylist’s whole inventory, she’d continued to bite her tongue, because he obviously enjoyed spoiling her so much.
If she never got a chance to wear all those clothes—because frankly she really didn’t want to spend too much time being seen with him in public when it was so much more fun to spend time with him in private—perhaps she could get him a refund.
Other than the designer-wardrobe-buying spree, the only other issue had been the argument—or rather the non-argument—they’d had when she had mentioned finding a new job before the baby was born. He had refused to talk about it, and when she had tried to press, he’d distracted her with sex.
She’d felt uneasy about her capitulation at the time. But she’d let it slide since, because even thinking about how exactly a life with Xander was going to work felt daunting. And she knew there would be arguments in their future about it.
But they would have to talk about it tonight, because she’d overheard him talking on the phone to his brother this morning and arranging to be in Athens in a couple of days’ time. So she knew their time together on Parádeisos was coming to an end.
Why did it have to be an insurmountable problem, though?
He wasn’t the autocratic man who had sailed off with her nearly three weeks ago without even telling her.
Surely, he was avoiding the issue for the same reason she was, because he didn’t want to ruin the time they had left here.
But she was ready to take the bull by the horns.
She wanted them to be a family and she knew he did too now from his reaction at the ultrasound.
And for that to happen, they would both have to make compromises.
The good news was, after two weeks of basking in the intimacy and connection they were building together, they were in a much better place to have that conversation than they had been when he’d spotted her at Serge’s restaurant in Galicos, with so many secrets and lies between them.
So, she was oddly touched when Elena held the shimmering silver gown in her arms aloft. Poppy recognised the stylish mini dress as one from the vast designer wardrobe Xander had purchased for her and which the stylist had said would take a week to alter to accommodate Poppy’s burgeoning figure.
‘Mr Caras has asked me to deliver your dress for this evening.’ Elena held up a pair of heeled silver sandals. ‘And your shoes. He has a special supper prepared for you at Seirína’s Cove.’
Poppy’s pulse skipped, the trickle of anxiety at the conversation they needed to have tonight comprehensively drowned out by the thought of wearing the dress for him at their cove.
And the surge of anticipation. Perhaps Xander was ready to have that conversation too now?
Why else would he have planned a special dinner?
‘A special supper?’ she asked eagerly. She really didn’t need the trappings of romance, but it felt validating to know that tonight meant a lot to him too.
It made her more sure that, even though their time on Parádeisos was nearly over, the last two weeks had made a difference—a big difference—to what their future could hold.
Maybe she should tell him tonight she was falling in love with him?
Sensation rippled over her skin alongside the whisper of nerves and excitement.
She hadn’t said as much yet, but she suspected he already knew.
And why was she keeping it a secret? She wasn’t scared of her feelings for him now.
And while he might not be ready to say the same to her…
yet…it would be a good way to introduce a conversation about what happened next.
So he would know she was committed to this relationship—when she explained that they would both need to make adjustments, to figure out how to make it work.
Because while their time here had been precious and wonderful, they couldn’t spend the rest of their lives on vacation together.
‘Yes, very special, I think.’ The housekeeper beamed, entering the room to place the dress on the bed. ‘I will ask Amara to assist you. She has experience with hair styling.’
‘Oh, thank you.’ Poppy pushed at the mass of wet curls dripping onto her shoulders. It was a long time since she’d been able to afford a hairdresser. But it would be fun to get all dolled up. For Xander. ‘That would be terrific, if it’s not too much trouble.’
Elena nodded. ‘I will inform Amara to come to the suite.’ The housekeeper smiled as she crossed the room. ‘Dimitrios will escort you to the cove when you are ready.’
‘Th-that’s wonderful,’ Poppy murmured, but the housekeeper had already closed the door behind her.